McLean Tecnic v Digi-Tech; Kalifair P/L v Digi-Tech

McLean Tecnic Pty Ltd and Kalifair Pty Ltd (the applicants) sought leave to appeal against a decision of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. The underlying dispute concerned the applicants' alleged infringement of certain patents held by Digi-Tech Pty Ltd (the respondent). The applicants sought to challenge the validity of these patents.

The primary legal issue before the Court of Appeal was whether the applicants had established a sufficient arguable case to warrant granting leave to appeal. This involved considering whether the primary judge had erred in their assessment of the validity of the respondent's patents, particularly in relation to the grounds of obviousness and lack of novelty. The court also had to determine if the applicants had demonstrated a real prospect of success on appeal.

Meagher JA, in dismissing the applications, found that the applicants had failed to demonstrate that the primary judge's decision was demonstrably wrong or that there was any substantial injustice. The reasoning focused on the strength of the evidence presented at the primary hearing and the established legal principles governing patent validity. The court concluded that the applicants had not met the threshold required for granting leave to appeal.

Consequently, both applications for leave to appeal were dismissed with costs.